Mormon History

A companion volume to their massive bibliography Studies in Mormon History, 1830-1997, this descriptive history by a team of top Mormon scholars provides a comprehensive view of how the writing of Mormon history has evolved since the establishment of the church.Mormon History offers an interpretive survey of Mormon historical writings, from the partisan and often ephemeralA companion volume to their massive bibliography Studies in Mormon History, 1830-1997, this descriptive history by a team of top Mormon scholars provides a comprehensive view of how the writing of Mormon history has evolved since the establishment of the church.Mormon History offers an interpretive survey of Mormon historical writings, from the partisan and often ephemeral history of the nineteenth century through the shift in the first half of the twentieth toward a more balanced and professional approach to the "new Mormon history" that has emerged since World War II. In addition to laying out Mormon historiography, the authors examine Mormon biography and autobiography and discuss social science literature on the Mormons. Two valuable appendixes round out this volume, one on the development and nature of Mormon imprints, the other on conducting historical research in Mormon sources....more

Community Reviews

This book was originally published in 2001, then spent some time onlinein the University of Illinois Press free electronic library between 2001and 2006, and has now been reprinted. It was meant as a companion to the1,168 page bibliographic "Studies in Mormon History, 1830-1997,"published in 2000 and apparently still available. The intention of thebook "is to provide a handbook for those starting a study in Mormonhistory" (page ix).

Chapter One introduces us to 19th century writing, beginning withThis book was originally published in 2001, then spent some time onlinein the University of Illinois Press free electronic library between 2001and 2006, and has now been reprinted. It was meant as a companion to the1,168 page bibliographic "Studies in Mormon History, 1830-1997,"published in 2000 and apparently still available. The intention of thebook "is to provide a handbook for those starting a study in Mormonhistory" (page ix).

Chapter One introduces us to 19th century writing, beginning with EberD. Howe's anti-Mormon book, "Mormonism Unvailed." It then continues withLDS pamphleteers, manuscript histories, and newspapers. "The History ofthe Church" is described as being "unsurpassed as a nineteenth-centuryLDS work...[that] remains a basic research tool for beginning studentsof the early Mormon experience" (page 9).

It goes on to talk about "middle way" books, which were written bynon-members, and fit somewhere between "Mormonism Unvailed" and "TheHistory of the Church," before continuing with LDS authors such asAndrew Jensen and George Q. Cannon, and the establishment of the GeorgeQ. Cannon and Sons printing press.

In Chapter Two, the first half of the 20th century is looked at. Herethe work of Nephi Anderson and B. H. Roberts is gone into, along withthe Improvement Era and "Essentials in Church History." Academic andprofessional historians also did some important work during this time,such as Richard T. Ely, Lowry Nelson, and Levi Edgar Young. Fawn Brodie,Dale Morgan, and Juanita Brooks are given a couple of pages each,referred to as "the three leading historians of Mormonism atmidcentury" (page 51).

Chapter three discusses what Moses Rischin called the "new Mormonhistory." Leonard J. Arrington is credited with capturing the spirit ofthis writing: "investigating the Mormon past in human or naturalisticterms without rejecting its divinity." Shortly after this book wasoriginally published, Louis Midgley showed that Arrington was notactually the author of that idea, and that he had spent many yearscoming up with what it actually meant after he had been credited withit, since it is an apparent contradiction. (Seehttp://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Conferenc... .)

Arrington's work and that of others with him in the the LDS HistoricalDepartment is discussed, along with reactions by leaders such as Boyd K.Packer and Ezra Taft Benson. After the office was moved to BYU, manyother books and articles were produced, by authors such as Dean C.Jessee and Thomas Alexander.

The BYU Department of History also made many contributions, as did theChurch Educational System and the College of Religious Education.Scholars from the RLDS church (this book was written before it wasrenamed to "Community of Christ") such as Robert B. Flanders and RichardP. Howard did some important writing as well.

Space is also given to the work of people such as Jan Shipps, LowellBennion, Lawrence Foster, Richard L. Bushman, and D. Michael Quinn, andpublications such as "Utah History Encyclopedia," as well ascomputer-based databases. The beginnings of the Mormon HistoryAssociation are related, along with periodicals such BYU Studies,Dialogue, the John Whitmer Historical Journal, the Improvement Era andEnsign, and Sunstone.

Chapter Four discusses the challenges of Mormon biography. It gives ahistory of LDS biographies, especially those of Joseph Smith and BrighamYoung. It talks about how biographies have changed over the centuries.It touches on biographies of women, dissenters, and schismatics, as wellas autobiographies. It then outlines what the authors feel is still leftto be done: "the lives of the rank and file," women, and more LDSleaders. And "the writing of LDS autobiographies is just gettingstarted" (page 140).

Chapter five was written by Armand L. Mauss. It talks about socialscience literature. He points out that the studies on Mormons that havebeen done outside the church have not yielded reliable data, havingeither come from flawed samples or shortcomings in research methods, andthat Utah cannot be used to represent the church.

He talks about the church's Research Information Division, which doesproduce reliable research, but is used internally by church leaders, andvery little information that has been produced has been made availablepublicly. It has made contributions, however, by training young socialscientists and giving "a degree of legitimacy to the social scientificperspective on religion, always suspect in the minds of conservativechurch leaders and members" (page 163).

Mauss also covers continuing as well as newly developing directions inLDS social science, such as family life, values, politics, racial andethnic relationships, and the roles of modern women. He then discussesneglected topics: Mormon missiology; consequences of the exportation ofthe Mormon religion; social stratification; organizational studies; anddeviance, discipline, and self control.

He ends his chapter with a statement that I wonder if he would stillagree with today: "All things considered, it seems unlikely that thefirst decades of the twenty-first century will see the same rate ofgrowth in social science literature on the Mormons that occurred in thefinal decades of the twentieth century" (page 182).

Appendix A and Appendix B go back over some of the same ground coveredearlier in the book, listing books and other sources of value tohistorians. Appendix A evaluates "Mormon imprints" (although it alsotalks about some anti-Mormon titles and other works published by non-LDSpublishers). It gives a history of publishing by the LDS church,including scriptures, periodicals, hymnals, and almanacs. Appendix Blists reference works, bibliographies, indexes, and even thefamilysearch.org web site as places to help find things to aid inresearch. A statement by Bernard De Voto that "a complete bibliographyof articles on Mormonism by qualified scholars would hardly fill onepage" (page 250) is indeed proven wrong.

In all, this book is a thorough (in some cases, perhaps too thorough)walk through the writing of the history of the church up through theclose of the twentieth century. I found it to be very interesting and Ilearned many things from it. However, it is rather unfortunate that itwas not updated when it was reprinted. Not only are the sametypographical errors still intact from the first printing ten years ago(as verified by the archived e-book version at archive.org), but a greatdeal has changed in the last ten years, and I believe the changes havedefinitely been significant enough to warrant at least an additionalappendix, if not an actual revision to the text.

Although the book is very useful for an amateur historian (such asmyself) - or even still for a student, as was intended - to get up tospeed on what has gone on before us, I'm afraid the book's owndescription of some outdated bibliographies now applies to itself: a"useful signpost...to the past journey of Mormon scholarship, telling ofits quantity and quality when...[it] was produced." Still, I highlyrecommend this book for anyone interested in Mormon history or Mormonbook collecting who wants to know more about the context in which theliterature was produced....more

David J. Whittaker is a Mormon historian and bibliographer who is working with the Joseph Smith Papers Project. He has authored or co-authored seven books and about fifty scholarly articles. He was the curator of Western and Mormon history manuscripts for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library of the Harold B. Lee Library. He was also a professor of history at Brigham Young University. He reDavid J. Whittaker is a Mormon historian and bibliographer who is working with the Joseph Smith Papers Project. He has authored or co-authored seven books and about fifty scholarly articles. He was the curator of Western and Mormon history manuscripts for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library of the Harold B. Lee Library. He was also a professor of history at Brigham Young University. He received his BA from BYU, his MA from California State University at Northridge, and his PhD from BYU. A native of California, he and his wife have four children. ...more